This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Fenty: Rihanna’s Fenty brand got a boost this week following news that the singer would be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, which will be sponsored by Apple Music after Pepsi ended its decade of sponsorship. Taboola, a tech company that tracks readership over tens of thousands of news publishers, found a 512% increase in readers about Fenty Beauty in the last 45 days. In addition, Taboola found a 334% increase in readership on Apple Music over the same time period.

Anheuser-Busch InBev: The brewer ranks as the top marketer on the 2021 Effie Effectiveness Index. The index, released this week, ranks the most effective agencies, marketers and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from more than 50 Effie Awards competitions, spanning 125 markets, worldwide. Notably, Effie cited multiple overseas beer brands in its description of AB InBev’s ranking, including Cerveza Nuestra Siembra, Quilmes, Victoria, Andes, Brahma and Poker—although U.S.-centric Michelob Ultra was also mentioned. Unilever fell to No. 2 after four years in the top spot, as PepsiCo, McDonald’s and Procter & Gamble rounded out the top five.

REI: The seller of outdoors gear announced it will give all employees time to vote on Nov. 8 by delaying store openings. Stores will open two hours later than usual on Election Day and workers will be paid for the time. The initiative is part of the chain’s Your Vote Can’t Wait campaign and also a result of feedback from employee focus groups. In addition, REI created a resource hub at REI.com/vote for employees to learn more about what is up for consideration in this year’s midterm elections.

Losers

Twitter: The social platform is under fire after a report by Reuters documented moves by major brands, including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes, Cole Haan and PBS Kids, to suspend Twitter ads, after an investigation found that brands appeared near tweets soliciting child pornography. "We're horrified," David Maddocks, brand president at Cole Haan, told Reuters. "Either Twitter is going to fix this, or we'll fix it by any means we can, which includes not buying Twitter ads."

Twitter spokesperson Celeste Carswell told Reuters that the company "has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation."

Johnson & Johnson: The company invited some playful ribbing this week when it announced the new name of its consumer products division, which it is spinning off. The new entity will be named Kenvue, a combination of “ken,” for knowledge and “vue” for sight. Kenvue will include brands such as Tylenol, Neutrogena and Band-Aid. Some compared the new name to the likes of Truist and Mondelēz, which were also largely panned when introduced.

College: A traditional college degree might not be in the cards for younger generations, according to recent data cited by Newsweek. An article published this week noted that college enrollment is down 10% over the last two years as the COVID cohort of Gen Zers pursues alternatives including entrepreneurship. A TikTok hashtag #NotGoingToCollege is trending with over 30 million views as of writing.

Quote of the week

“She not only better gender balances our cast but she also brings new personality to our crew. She's self-aware, she's authentic, she's confident and she really is this quirky character who truly embodies our purpose.” –Marissa Beck, senior director of brand and content at Mars Wrigley North America, about its new female purple M&M character.

Tweet of the week

Number of the week 

60%: Share of consumers who have a high level of concern about the economy, down 13 points from the recent peak of June 2022, according to Numerator’s Monthly Consumer Sentiment Study, which cites decreasing fears about gas prices for the drop.

On the move

Christie’s hired Gillian Gorman Round as chief marketing officer. She was most recently chief executive of Kjaer Weis, a luxury beauty brand.

Visa appointed K.C. Kavanagh senior VP, chief communications officer. She had been chief communications officer at AT&T.

Stride Health hired Lee Hurley as CMO. She had been CMO at Northwestern Mutual.